Compact refrigeration unit for cooling air



Sept. 16, 1952 H. J. LANGE COMPACT REFRIGERATION UNIT FOR COOLING AIRFiled Jan. 13, 1950 IN VEN TOR.

Henry J. Lunge Patented Sept. 16, .1952

Henry J Lange Hammond,

' Corporation,' Hammond,

Indiana coomnc AIR 1 Ind., assig'nor to Betz Ind, a corporation ofApplication anuary 13, 1950 Serial No. 138,434

This invention relates generally to a refrigeration or cooling unit andmore particularly to a small cooling unit for use in small display casesor the like.

The use of refrigerated cases as display counters, beverage barsetc. hasbecome very common and refrigeration units having coils through whichcooling fluid iscirculatedto cool such cases arecommercially available.However, inthejpast, such'refrigeratingiunits have been relatively largeand therefore have been impractical for small refrigerators; beveragecounters, back-bars and the like. The development of small'refrigerated'units for. suchsuses has been difn'cult as, inorder to providetherequired change, in' temperature of the circulated cooling air, itis'necessary to pass ,the airover gfplurality offcooling coils. fBecause of. thisprior'refrigeratinggunits have been relativelycomplicated and expensive and not prace tic'al Where small unitsarerequired. r It is, therefore, an object of the present invention-toprovide a small; compact and inexpensive refrigeration unit. I 1 Anotherobject of this invention is to provide .arefri'geration unit including asingle'tubular coil forthe'cooling fluid with means for circulating airoverthecoil a plurality of times.

1 TA further'object of this invention is to provide 7asmallrefrigeration unit adapted to be secured against a wall and withthe air circulating means completely enclosed by the. unit so that theunit does not require a large amount of useful space.

A feature of this invention is the provision of a smallrefrigeration'unit including a coil formed in a channel shape with a fan and motortherefor insidefthe channel and a bafile about the fan so thatair drawninto the unit is passed over a part of the. coil and then dischargedfrom the unit over the remainder of the coil.

. Afurther featureof this invention is the provision ofla refrigeratingunit adapted tobe secured against awall includinga single tubular lcpilhaving spaced superposed U-shaped portions extending from the wall andair circulating means withinthe space. defined by thecoil and the wall.Further objects and features and the attending advantages-will-beapparent from a consideration of. the following description when takenin connection with the accompanying drawing in which: Fig; l is aperspective view illustrating the refrigerating unit inaccordance withthe invention and a portion of a casein which it might be used: 1 Fig.2i'sa'cross sectional planv-iew of theunit o'fFigIl'; I l

4 Claims. (Cl. 62-140) 2 Fig. 3 is a cross sectional side view and" V j"Figl l is'a cross sectional elevation view of the refrigeration unit.

' In practicing the. invention there is provided a refrigeration unitincluding a single tubular coil having U- shaped interconnectedportionsposiitioned'one abovethe other through which .001- ing fluid may flow. Aback plate is provided across the ends of the U-shaped portions, andtop. and bottom plates are provided to completely enclose the unit.The'top plate includes provis'ions for mounting the unit and the bottomplate serves to collect moisture which is condensed of the unit;

within the unit. A fan and motor for drivingthe same are supportedwithin the enclosure; A baffle is provided about the fan and engages thecoil to divide the coil into intake portions through which air" is drawnby the fan'and discharge portions through which the air is discharged.Air circulated through the unit is therefore. passed over "thecoil twotimes so that a substantial change in temperature can'be"impartedthereto. To

facilitate transfer of heat from the air to. the

coil, fins are provided on the coil.

Referring now to the drawings, in Fig. I the refrigeration unit'iiiisillustrated in a case having a top wall H and a back wall l2, TheunitHi includes a top plate It having slots formed therein for receivingscrews [5 secured'in the top wall ll of the case. The unit may, bythe-"use of these provisions, be easily positioned in'such a case withthe back of the imitadjacent the back wall l2. A tube [6 extends fromthe unit into which a cooling fluid may be admitted and tube ll isprovided for the return of the fluid to the compressor. A bottom platei8 is provided which serves to collect moisture which may be picked upby the unit and includes a drain tube I 9 through which the moisturemaybe disposed of in any desired manner, r

From Figs. 2, 3 and 4 it is apparentthat the refrigeration unit itincludes asin-gle tubular coil 20 which includes a plurality ofU'-shaped portions positioned one above the other as indicated by theportionsZUa-Jllb, 20c; 29d and Zte ofiFig. 3. The inlet tube I6 isconnected to. the lowermost U-shaped portionwith the fluid passingthrough the portions and being discharged from the portion 20a to theoutlet tube i7 through which it is returned to the compressor.Positioned on the coil are a plurality of fins 2| which are intimatelyconnectedto the coils so that efiectiveheat exchange is providedtherebetvveen. The coils together with the' fins, form; a 'perviou s.vertically extending channel structure which serves as a partialenclosure for the refrigeration unit.

For closing the back of the channel-shaped structure, a back plate 25 isprovided which is secured to heavier fins 26 at each end of the coil.These fins 26 have angular extensions 21 to which the back plate '25 issecured as by screws 28. A top plate 13 and a bottom plate l8 areprovided in the coil unit, being secured to projections 3| and 32 of theback plate 25, and to a heavy center fin 33 at the front of the unit.Actually the top plate 13 forms the main supporting member of the unitand includes slots 14 for fastening the unit in a case as previouslystated. The plates i3 and I8 have cupped edges 30 which permit thebottom plate 8 to serve as a collector for mois-.

ture which enters the unit. As previously stated a drain pipe I9 isprovided at the bottom plate 18 7 through which the moisture can beremoved as desired.

Supported within the enclosure formed by the coil unit and the back,top, and bottom plates, are air circulating means including the fan 34and the motor 35. The air circulating means are supported from the topplate 13 by brackets 36 which may be secured to the motor by bolts, asillustrated. Positioned about the fan 34 is a battle 3'! having acircular opening 38 of such a diameter to just clear the fan blades. Thebaflie 38 has top and bottom projections 39 which engage the top andbottom plates 13 and I8 respectively. Angular side extensions 40 areprovided on the baflie 38 which extend between heat exchange fins 2l.Tabs 4| are provided on the side extensions 40 at the top and bottomthereof and extend over the fins 2| for supporting the bafiie in theunit.

The baffle 31, therefore, divides the enclosure into two compartments.Each of these compartments is partly defined by the coil and finstructure. The fan 34 operates to draw air in through one compartmentand discharge it out through the other compartment. More specificallythe first compartment is defined by the front part of the coil and finstructure and the baflle, and the second compartment is defined by thesides of the coil, the back plate and the'bafiie. As illustrated in Fig.2, the fan operates to draw air in through the front of the coil unitand discharge the air through the sides thereof. The air, therefore, iscooled by the coil and fin structure when it is drawn in through thefront thereof and is cooled again as the air is discharged over the coilstructure at the sides. It is obvious that the direction of aircirculation can be reversed, with the air being drawn in through thesides and dischargedthrough the front, merely by reversing the directionof rotation of the motor. The particular direction of air circulationmay be used which maybe more desirable for the particular application inwhich the unit is being used.

It is seen from the above that a very compact refrigeration unit isprovided having a single coil for the cooling fluid. The arrangement issuch that the medium to be cooled is passed over the coil two differenttimes so that a relatively large heat exchange can take place betweenthe medium and the coil. Since the refrigeration unit is compact and thearrangement is such that it can be mounted against a back wall and'alsoup against a top wall, a minimum amount of useful storage space isrequired for the unit. It is obvious that the unit might be installed atthe bottom of acase with the bottom plate 18 forming the supporting unitif this is desirable. The

4 units have been found to be highly satisfactory for use in small casesfor which suitable units were not formerly available. Although a singlelayer coil has been disclosed and such a coil will be adequate for smallunits since the air is circulated over the coil two times, itis to bepointed out that the advantages set forth above will also be present inunits having a coil with a plurality of layers.

Although one embodiment of the invention which is illustrative thereofhas been described, it is obvious that various changes and modificationscan be made therein without departing from the intended scope of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A refrigeration unit comprising a coil for cooling fluid, said coilincluding a plurality of horizontal U-shaped coil portions positionedone above the other to form a vertically extending pervious channel,housing members secured to said channel including top, bottom and backplates, said top plate including means for securing the unit tosupporting means, said bottom plate forming a container for receivingmoisture which enters the unit, air circulating means within saidchannel including a fan and motor means for driving said fan, and bafflemeans about said fan dividing said channel into an air intake portionincluding parts of said U-shaped coil portions intermediate the endsthereof and an air discharge portion including the end parts of saidU-shaped coil portions, with the parts of the coil portions in said airintake and air discharge portions having substantially equal areas, saidfan drawing air through said air intake portion and discharging the samethrough said air discharge portion so that all the air is passed overtwo parts of said coil portions and cooled thereby two times,

2. A refrigerating unit including in combination, a coil for receivingcooling fluid having a plurality of horizontal U-shaped coil portionspositioned one above theother to form a vertically extending perviouschannel, housing members secured to said channel including top, bottomand back plates, said top plate including means for securing the unit tothe supporting means, said bottom plate forming a container forreceiving moisture which enters the unit, air circulating means withinsaid channel including a fan and motor means for driving said fan, andbaiile means about said fan dividing said channel into a firstcompartment defined by parts of said U-shaped coil portions intermediatethe ends thereof and a second compartment defined by the end parts ofsaid U-shaped coil portions, with the parts of said coil portionsdefining said first and second compartment having substantially equalareas, said fan drawing air into said channel over the coil partsdefining one of said compartments and discharging the same over thecoilparts defining the other of said compartments, so that air iscirculated by said fan over two "different parts of said coil and cooledthereby two times. v

3. A refrigerating unitincluding in combination, a coil for receiving acooling fluid including a plurality of interconnected tubular portionspositioned with respect to each. other to form a pervious channel ofgenerally U-shaped cross section having side sections at the ends of theU and an intermediate section between said side sectiona'housing meanssecured to said coil for closing the open ends and the open side of saidchannel to form an enclosure, baflie means within said enclosure havingfirst and second portions adjacent said coil, said baflle means dividingsaid enclosure into a first compartment defined by the parts of saidcoil forming said intermediate section of the U of said channel, and asecond compartment defined by the parts of said coil forming said sidesections of the U of said channel, with the parts of said coil definingsaid first and second compartments having areas of the same order ofmagnitude, air circulating means within said enclosure for drawing airinto one of said compartments over the coil parts defining the same andfor discharging air from the other of said compartments over the coilparts defining said other compartment, so that the air is circulated bysaid fan over two different parts of said coil and cooled thereby twotimes.

4. A refrigerating unit in accordance with claim 1 in which said aircirculating means is supported from said top plate, with said fan andsaid baiiie means being positioned closer to said intermediate parts ofsaid coil portions than to said back plate, and said motor means 6 beingpositioned between said fan and said back plate, and in which said coilportions are interconnected to'form a single continuous channel for thecooling fiuid, and which refrigerating unit includes verticallyextending fin means having opening therein for receiving said coilportions.

HENRY J. LANGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

